NEWBERRY – Newberry's offense carried the team in the first game of the day and its pitching and defense in the second in a doubleheader sweep of Kentucky Wesleyan at the Smith Road Complex on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Wolves (6-4) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first game and capped the contest with five runs in their final turn at the plate for an 11-3 victory, while three double plays and the best performance of Josh Bookbinder's young career stole the show in a 2-0 Game Two win.
 
Bookbinder needed just 90 pitches for a complete-game win in the seven-inning affair, scattering seven hits in a scoreless outing. The freshman stranded six runners, including two at third base, while striking out five batters and improving his record to 2-0.
 
The game was shaping up to be a pitcher's duel through the early going, with Newberry held hitless through three innings and Kentucky Wesleyan (2-4) unable to scratch the scoreboard. The Wolves finally broke through with two runs in the fourth; Newberry got runners on the corners with a walk and a hot shot to the mound off the bat of Aidan Baur that deflected off the pitcher's glove and all the way into shallow left field.
 
Kenny Bergmann rolled the first pitch he saw through the right side to plate a run two pitches before a double into the right center field gap from Tyler Ackard gave Bookbinder a two-run cushion.
 
The Newberry defense turned a twin killing in each of the final three innings. The game-ending double play in the seventh was particularly notable: with two on and one out, pinch hitter Cam Chapman sent an 0-2 grounder to short, where Peyton Spangler had never made a start in his career before Saturday's first game.
 
Spangler gobbled up the ball and flipped it to Dalton Lansdowne, who made a barehanded catch and threw to Tyler White. White picked the throw out of the dirt to clinch the doubleheader sweep.
 
The impressive pitching and defensive performance followed a game marked by offensive outbursts. The Wolves moved ahead in the second inning with Ackard's first RBI double of the day, doubled the lead two pitches later on Tanner Lane's RBI triple, and got a run-scoring groundout from Spangler to make the lead 3-0.
 
Newberry tacked on another run in the third on a single from Bergmann and plated a pair in the fourth before exploding for five runs on three hits in the sixth, with the biggest blow coming on a two-run single by Tyler White.
 
Charlie Fessler earned his first win of the season by allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits through six innings. Aaron Copeland pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the win.
 
Bergmann and Baur each finished the day with three hits, with Bergmann joining Ackard and White with two RBI apiece.
 
The teams will conclude their season series tomorrow with a pair of seven-inning games at the Smith Road Complex.